1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to arrangements for guiding users in designing complex products. More specifically, the invention relates to arrangements for guiding telecommunications service providers in designing telecommunications solutions for customers, and in pricing and costing those solutions.
2. Related Art
Service providers have a critical need to configure solutions for customers based on customer needs, and to price and cost them optimally. For example, a telecommunications service provider may desire to quickly and easily configure a telecommunications network service account with customer-selected capabilities and features. Each capability and feature has a cost to the service provider and a price to the customer. Telecommunications service providers often use sophisticated tools for this purpose. However, the use of these tools, and hence the efficiency of the sales process, depends on how quickly and accurately information can be entered, and on how easily data may edited after entry. In many instances, data input and editing capabilities can essentially determine the overall usefulness of solution configuration tools, pricing systems, and costing systems.
Conventionally, a general purpose computer program has been used to input data to these tools. For example, a general purpose spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel™ may be used to perform this function. This approach is based on the perception that a tabular (row and column) format is familiar to many workers and fits many input formats and requirements. It is also based on the observation that network connectivity and network service data may be entered for many sites, often hundred of sites.
However, such potentially complex and interrelated data requires extensive data validation. If the allowed data range or type of a given data item depend on the value of another data item, cumbersome navigation between data items is required. General purpose spreadsheet programs may be widely used for data entry and manipulation, but do not have convenient ways of data validation, especially if such data must satisfy complex validation rules. However, if data validation mechanisms are complex, users find them unwieldy to use.
Thus, there is a need in the art for inputting and editing data efficiently, while automatically scrutinizing data to assure its integrity.